Love Remains The Same
by Rayme Neil
Summary: A young woman appears after being missing for 5 years. What's her story? Are Gibbs and her connected somehow? Rated T to be safe, for language.
1. Chapter 1

Special Agent Gibbs sits up in his bed. He had had another dream about them. Guilt washes over him. "Will things ever seem better?" he thinks. He gets up to get some coffee, hoping that keeping busy will distract him from his dream. When he sips his coffee, the phone rings and walks over to answer it.

"Special Agent Gibbs." he answers, trying to speak in his normal tone.

"Gibbs, we found a missing girl," says DiNozzo over the phone, "she was here when we got to work today."

"Okay I'm on my way." says Gibbs, hanging up the phone and goes to get dressed, putting his finished cup of coffee in the sink.

* * *

When Gibbs walks out of the elevator he sees a young woman talking to McGee about something. She looked like she was in her early twenties.

"DiNozzo!" Gibbs says loudly.

"Yes boss?" says DiNozzo walking up to Gibbs, knowing he made him mad somehow.

"Is this who you were talking about?" he asks DiNozzo, pointing to the young woman.

"Yes Boss."

"When you said 'girl', I thought you meant child."

"Well, she is. Kinda. She's almost 18."

"DiNozzo."

"Okay, the point is that her house burnt down when she was 13, and that killed her family. Everyone thought she died too. Her name is Maebh Emerson. She has very little memory of the fire or life before it happened."

"Where has she been for the past 5 years?"

"She says she's been in Mexico. She lived with family there until she decided to come here to see if we can figure out the case that caused the fire. One parent was in the Marines, the other was in the Navy. No one ever knew the cause of the fire, but she thinks that someone caused the fire."

"Hmm..." says Gibbs, walking over to Maebh. "Why do you think someone caused the fire?" he asks her, interrupting her conversation with McGee. She ignores Gibbs to finish what she was saying to McGee. When she finishes, she turns and looks Gibbs in the eyes saying, "Because, someone tried to kidnap me. That's why I'm here. Someone wants me dead and I want to know why."

Gibbs takes a really good look at this young woman while she says this. She was dressed in a Metallica t-shirt, dark jeans, and home made fingerless gloves-which was odd since it wasn't cold. Her hair went to her waist and it was a very dark brown and wavy. She was also fair skinned, so she doesn't look like she's been in Mexico. "She looks awfully familiar." he thinks.


	2. Chapter 2

"You just now opted up for finding out what happened?" Gibbs asked Maebh.

"Yeah. I would have earlier but my grandfather wouldn't let me. He said it was too dangerous." she replied.

"And it's not dangerous now?"

"Well he has no say in the matter now that he's dead."

"Oh. Then who are you staying with?"

"Are you going to help me or not?" she asks, becoming slightly irritated.

"Fine. We'll see what we have about the fire and go from there." he said, dropping the subject until later.

"Now what where you saying, Tim?" she says turning back to McGee.

"That's it?" Gibbs says, again interrupting her.

"Well, I came all the way over here, so I might as well stay until you find something."

Everyone in the room that was hearing this looked at Gibbs to see his reaction. Her boldness startles him, but he hides it. "Where have I seen this girl before?" his thoughts scream at him.

"Fine." he says, angrily and storms out towards the elevator. He needed to see Abby about something anyways. Then he stops dead in his tracks and looks back at Maebh.

"No it can't be." he thinks. Then he shakes his head and continues on his way to see Abby, trying to stop thinking about the insane idea that was in his head.

* * *

"Have you met Maebh yet?" he asks Abby when he walks into 'Labby'.

She can tell something is wrong by his tone.

"Why yes I have. I'm running information about her now. You don't like her?" she says.

"She has nowhere to stay, I assume. Do you have any idea of what she has planned to do about that?"

"I don't know, but I'm sure McGee does."

"Why do you say that?"

"Because they've been talking ever since she got here. What's up with you today?" she says looking at him. He looks back at her with sad eyes. She walks over to him and gives him a big hug, almost like she has read his mind.

"Thanks, Abbs." he says. She was so cute and that always seemed to make things better.

He didn't want to break up the hug, but he knew that they both had work to do.

"We need to get back to work Abbs." he said softly.

"Fine." she said, pouting. She slowly and sadly walked back to her computer. When she sat down he walked up to her and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

"Tell me when you find out something Abbs." he said walking back to the elevator. When he gets inside he presses the button to get to the morgue and calls McGee on his phone.

"Yes sir?" McGee says.

"Keep Maebh with you." he tells him sternly.

Y-y-y-yes sir."

Gibbs hangs up his phone as the elevator door opens.

"Jethro, what are you doing here?" asked Ducky.

Gibbs looks around the morgue to make sure that Ducky and himself were the only living people there.

"I need to talk to someone."


	3. Chapter 3

"Jethro, what's wrong?" said Ducky, instantly realizing that something was wrong.

"Do you remember the Emerson's?" Gibbs replies quietly.

"Yes I do. The Marine-Navy couple. How could I forget them? What's going on, Jethro?" asks Ducky, almost afraid to know the answer. Gibbs looks at his feet. He didn't want to have to tell someone what he was thinking, but he knew Ducky or Abby would get it out of him eventually.

"Maebh, the daughter, reminds me of Kelly." Gibbs says, trying to hold back strong emotions that were struggling to overpower him.

"What? She's here?" says Ducky surprised.

"Yeah. She came to find out what happened."

"Jethro..." Ducky says with sad eyes.

"I failed all of them Ducky...especially her.." says Gibbs, trying to keep his voice from cracking. "She doesn't remember me."

"You were a second father to that girl! How can she not remember?"

"Amnesia? Repressed memory? I don't know. I thought she was dead. She finally shows up again and she doesn't remember what happened."

"You need to remind her, Jethro. It would only make things worse for her to find out through Abby."

Gibbs sighs heavily.

"Thanks Ducky." he says solemnly as he slowly walks towards the elevator.

"Good luck, old friend." says Ducky so quietly it's almost a whisper.

* * *

"What on earth is going on here?" DiNozzo whispers to Ziva.

"What are you talking about?" she says back, annoyed that-once again-Tony has interrupted her thinking about her work.

"McGee and this Emerson chick."

"What about it?"

"Don't you think it's kinda weird that a hot chick would find _him_ interesting?"

Ziva looks over at McGee's desk. Maebh was sitting on the floor, leaning against the wall that divided McGee's cubical from the one behind his. They were talking about something. It seemed almost like they've met before.

"It seems like they've known each other." Ziva finally says.

"Ziva, she's too young to have known him unless they were family, and there is no way that anyone in McGee's family is _that_ hot!"

"Emerson-with me, now." says Gibbs in is regular bossy way, making Tony flinch.

"Whoa...he's not coming after me, weird." says Tony to himself.

Maebh slowly stands up from where she was sitting. She picks up a motorcycle helmet and a bag from behind McGee's desk and walks up to Gibbs.

"Where to, your majesty?" she asks in a bored voice. Gibbs walks towards the elevator and Maebh follows while waving a goodbye to Tim. When Gibbs and Maebh are in the elevator and the doors finally close, Gibbs hits a button that turns off the lights and makes the elevator stop moving. When Gibbs turns to Maebh, she has one raised eyebrow at him.

"My name is Leroy Jethro Gibbs."

"And...?" she asks.

"Tell me what you remember."

"Umm...don't actually remember the fire. I was just told that's what happened."

"Then how do you know there was a fire?" he asks.

She takes off her left fingerless glove and shows him her hand. The palm of her hand was scarred deeply.

"Both hands are scarred from the fire like this, but this hand is worse than the other."

Maebh looks into Gibbs' eyes, trying to read his reaction as she puts her glove back on.

"You know me from back then, don't you?" she asks him.

Gibbs looks at his feet.

"Yes, I do." he says quietly, sounding almost scared. Gibbs looks up to see Maebh with her eyes closed, like she was thinking very hard. After a few seconds of silence she finally spoke. "Dadaí?" she asked in a strong Irish accent.

"You remember?"

"I remember you coming around some...vaguely...what's going on?"

Gibbs could tell she was starting to get a little freaked out.

"Just spit it out, Jethro." he thinks to himself. "Just tell her!"

Suddenly a massive headache came across Gibbs. It was so bad it made him lose his balance and he fell.

"Dadaí are you okay?" she asked fell on her knees at his side. Gibbs points at the panel on the elevator, unable to talk and Maebh runs to the panel and find the button Gibbs used to turn the elevator off and pressed it. The doors open.

"Someone help!" Maebh yells out the doors.

Gibbs head is throbbing. The last thing he sees is Tim, Tony, and Ziva run up to the doors before he passes out.


	4. Chapter 4

"Dadaí!" says Maebh, looking as if she's about to cry. The other special agents run into the elevator and practically shove Maebh out of the way. Only McGee makes sure that Maebh is okay while the others are checking on Gibbs.

"What happened?" he whispers to her, pulling her out of the elevator and to the corner of the room.

"What about Gibbs?" she says, struggling to get back to the elevator.

"They can take care of him. Something is up, I know it. Tell me, Maebh!" said McGee.

"Whoa, Tim, did they give you your huevo's back since the first time I met you?" she said, hoping to make him angry so she could go see Gibbs.

"What is that dad thing you called Gibbs? What is going on?" said McGee in a determined voice.

"Dadaí."

"What?"

"It's Irish for father. You say it like you would say 'daddy'."

"Why would you call him that?"

"I...I...I don't remember!"

"It happened ten seconds ago!"

"No! I mean that I don't remember why I call him Dadaí. We were talking about something and that made me remember that I knew him from before the fire and that I called him Dadaí."

"Is there anyone in this building you _don't_ know?

"Shut up Tim, it's just you and Gibbs."

When she said Gibbs name, she grew more sad.

"He's going to be okay, V." he said to her, giving her a comforting hug.

"I was wondering if you were going to call me that ever again." she replied, hugging McGee back and not letting go.

"Where did they go?" Maebh asks McGee.

"What?" he said, breaking the hug and spinning around. The elevator was closed and they were gone.

"I guess they went to Ducky?" said McGee slowly. At that moment, his cell phone rang. It was DiNozzo, so he answered it.

"What happened?" McGee asked DiNozzo.

"You would know if your ass was down here!" DiNozzo yells through the phone and hangs up.

"I guess you were right." says Maebh, laughing at McGee's facial expression of shock and starts to walk to the elevator, practically dragging McGee behind her.

"Where's this Ducky guy?" she asks.

"Morgue." he says as they enter the elevator.

"What?" she says loudly.

"Calm down he's a doctor."

When they're in the elevator, McGee hits the button to go to the floor the morgue is on. After a few seconds, Maebh hits the emergency stop switch.

"What's the problem?" McGee asks. Maebh gives McGee a big hug.

"I'm sorry for everything." she says.

"What?" he asks.

"Everything. I'm sorry for everything. I wasn't very nice to you when I said goodbye last time, and that was wrong. You've always been so sweet to me."

McGee finally hugs Maebh back, not wanting this moment to end.

"It's okay, V." says McGee, kissing Maebh on the forehead. "Things were different then. Things have changed. You have grown up. And you've grown up well. Umm...I mean...uhhh....well...umm...."

Maebh breaks the hug and looks up at him.

"Calm down Tim, I'm used to your geek double meanings by now." she said in an tone to let McGee know she was kidding and hit the emergency switch back on. When they got to the morgue, Gibbs was awake and sitting up on an autopsy table.

"Took you guys long enough to get here." Gibbs says.

"What happened?" McGee asked.

"I don't take care of myself anymore, I guess. Now if you guys don't mind, I need to have a word with Ms. Emerson."

"That's it?" asks DiNozzo.

Gibbs gives DiNozzo a look.

"Okay, leaving now." says DiNozzo heading for the elevator, with everyone else except Maebh and Ducky eventually following.

"What took you and McGee so long to get up here?" Gibbs asks Maebh.

"What does that have to do with anything?" she asks, trying to not sound defensive and replied half sarcastically "Anyways, you were in the middle of telling me something before you decided to try and get out of telling me."

Gibbs sighs deeply. His head is still hurting, but the medicine Ducky gave him was taking its time working.

"Yes, well...um...I'm your godfather." Gibbs says slowly.

"Really?" she asks, not really knowing how to feel about that yet.

"Yes. And I know who killed your family in that fire."


	5. Chapter 5

Maebh sighs and sits next to Gibbs on the autopsy table. She wrings her hands and waits for Gibbs to tell his story.

"This assassin was meant to kill me...only...they ...they got your family instead of me...I was supposed to be there...but I slipped out..." his words were slow, trying to word things right. The sudden migraine from the elevator really screwed up his thinking.

"Why did you slip out?" Maebh asked in a whisper.

"That's...that's personal..." he said.

Maebh stood up and slammed a closed fist against the autopsy table and glares at Gibbs viciously in the eyes.

"You're right, I would want to know too." he said, almost afraid of this young woman in front of him. He sighs deeply. "I...I was going to get a present that I forgot."

"Who caused it?"

"The man responsible went missing after that happened. We haven't been able to find him."

At this Maebh storms to the elevator and leaves the room angry.

* * *

Gibbs looks down at the floor. Ducky walks up next to him and places his hand on Gibb's shoulder. "

"That girl is confused and frustrated. She's doesn't really know what to believe unless she remembers what happened. Give her time and she'll come around." Ducky says to his friend.

"Such a bad day." Gibbs says, keeping his voice strong.

"Jethro, go home with Abby tonight. She'll make sure you eat and get enough sleep so you don't have another migraine." Ducky finally says, knowing Gibbs wants to be alone for a while.

Gibbs grunts in acknowledgement. "I just want to crawl into a hole and never come out." he thinks.

* * *

When Maebh gets to the first floor she runs to the parking lot to her motorcycle. When she gets there she is surprised to see McGee there and stops dead in her tracks. He knows something is wrong when he sees her and starts walking fast over to her. Maebh drops to her knees and starts sobbing. McGee runs to her and sits in front of her, hugging her to where she is crying into his shoulder.

"What's wrong, V?" he says, rubbing her back in an attempt to comfort her.

"I don't know why I'm so angry." she said, sobbing harder.

"Everything is going to be okay." he says as he picks her up and carries her to his car. He opens the back door and lays her in the back so she can lay down. He slides in with her, never letting go of her for an instant. He doesn't leave her until she is done sobbing.

"What happened, V?" he asks quietly.

"He's still out there." she says, tears still streaming down her face.

McGee looks down at the young girl crying into him. "She's no longer that punk teenager that used to live next door." he thought to himself.

"We'll find him." McGee promises.

"But how many more lives will he ruin first?" she asks.

McGee goes quiet. After a few minutes, he speaks.

"Do you need a place to stay?" he asks gently.

"Yes." she says in a very quiet whisper.

"Stay here," he says gently, "I'll be right back with my stuff and we'll go to my place."

"Okay." she says so quietly that McGee barely hears it.

He gently lifts her off of him and leans her against the back of the seat and locks the door when he gets out. He walks towards the building. When he gets to his desk, he grabs his badge, gun, and bag.

"Where are you going, Probie?" asks DiNozzo.

"Home." says McGee.

"Just like that, you're abandoning your work family?"

"I'm going home. I'm taking Maebh with me. If you need her for anything, call tomorrow."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! You can't just take her with you!"

"Where else do you expect her to go?" McGee says, starting to get angry. DiNozzo goes silent. After a few seconds, McGee walks passed him and headed back to his car.

When McGee gets back to his car, Maebh is still in the back seat. He opens the back door and puts his bag in next to her.

"Tim?" she says quietly.

"Yes, V?" he says gently.

"Is it okay if I follow you in my motorcycle so I can clear my head some more?" she asks, her face begging him. As soon as he sees that face, his heart melts, knowing that Maebh will probably be getting her way very easily during her stay with him.

"Maebh, we'll come back for your motorcycle later." he says, hoping she'll agree with him. Maebh looks into his eyes, hoping he'll change his mind. She's too exhausted to fight, so she gives in.

"Can I get my stuff out of it then?" she asks quietly.

"Okay." he says, slightly relieved that she didn't want to fight back.


	6. Chapter 6

Maebh was laying on his couch, in his arms, asleep. She was wearing a pair of his boxers and a t-shirt, her hair was still wet from the shower she took. She sure was a fighter, it took hours for her to finally give in to sleep. Even when she was sleeping, McGee could tell she wasn't resting peacefully.

"Why do I feel so protective of her?" he thinks. He kisses her forehead gently and slowly falls asleep.

* * *

"Abby, I'm fine." said Gibbs as they walk through Abby's front door.

"No you're not! You collapsed in an elevator today!" she said in an angry tone. Gibbs turns to face her and looks her in the eyes.

"I promise, I'm fine." he said. She looks at him with sad eyes and gives him a big hug.

"Don't let that happen again." finally says, not letting go of the hug. Eventually she drags him to her couch, makes him sit down, and then heads towards the kitchen to make them food.

"Let me help, Abbs." he says as he grabs her hand.

"No." she says sternly.

"Yes." he says, equally stern.

"No. Or I'll handcuff you to the couch." she says.

"Fine." he eventually says. Abby walks into the kitchen and grabs the phone to order some pizza. When the pizza is ordered, she turns to hang the phone back on the receiver on the wall, but Gibbs wraps his arms around her before she turns around. Abby lays the phone on the counter and turns to face him and she wraps her arms around the back of his neck. He wants so bad for things to feel normal. He knows if he tries anything with Abby that he would only bring her down, he has too much baggage. He feels guilty for wanting Abby so much, he feels bad for everything he's put Maebh through.

"Gibbs?" she whispers softly.

"Yes?" he asks, barely audible, finally coming out of his depressing though mode. He looks her in the eye. He recognizes that look. She's decided to do something. She moves her face closer to his. His heart is pounding so hard that he can feel it in his throat. "I'm tired of thinking. I'm going to go with his gut about this for once." he thinks. He leans his face closer to hers, it's like slow motion. Finally, their lips meet and neither of them hold back.


	7. Chapter 7

When Maebh finally woke up there was a sticky note on her forehead. She took it of her face and read it. "Happy Birthday Maebh! Call my cell when you wake up and I'll pick you up. - McGee" Maebh rolled off the couch, called McGee, and went to find some clothes to wear. She decided just to wear the jeans she wore yesterday with one of McGee's other t-shirts. She finished getting ready and waited outside McGee. Not long after that he pulled up.

"Did you lock the door?" he asked when she got in the car and he started driving.

"Aww you remember my skills with locks!" she said in a cheerful voice.

"How could I forget? You practically lived in my house when I wasn't there."

"You don't have proof!" she said laughing.

"Yes I do! You ate all of my Cheetos! And you told me to buy more on my mirror with Expo markers!" he said laughing at the memories.

"Hey! I made your mirror pretty though!"

"Yeah you did. And how does it feel to finally be 18?" he asks her.

"Greatness! We should go to somewhere tonight! I can legally go to clubs now!" she says, hoping he'd say yes.

"No! You'll get into a fight!"

"You know I can take care of myself! And besides, I wouldn't get into fights at all if the creepy guys would leave me alone."

"Yes, but you can go to real jail now!"

"Do you seriously think that a judge can send this face to jail?" she asks making the face she made last night. "And I can claim sexual harassment, because that's the only reason why I kick their asses!"

"I'll think about it." he said finally.

"Yay!" she said kissing his cheek.

"That doesn't mean yes!" he said.

"Yet!" she said laughing.

It was then that they got to NCIS. Both of them got out of the car, walked in the building, and headed towards the elevator.

* * *

When Gibbs got to the office McGee wasn't at his desk.

"Where's McGee?" he asked Tony and Ziva.

"He went to pick up that hot chick that stayed at his house last night." Tony said. Gibbs gave him a look.

"I...I...I mean Maebh Emerson." Tony said.

It was then that the elevator opened and Maebh ran out with McGee chasing her. Apparently she had stolen his ipod and was making fun of a song he had on there by singing along to it. As soon as she ran up and saw Gibbs, though, she stopped and McGee got his ipod back when he caught up.

"Happy birthday, Maebh." Gibbs said.

"Thanks." she said and started to walk over to McGee's desk.

"Wait."

"Yes?"

"You might want to hit Tony."

"Why?"

"For the reason why you got into a fight with every other guy."

She looked over at Tony.

"Nah. He's cute, I'll let it slide this time." she said after giving him a good looking at. This made Tony laugh, and then he stopped as soon as Gibbs looked over at him.

"Do you have any plans for your birthday yet?" Gibbs asked Maebh.

"I was trying to convince McGee to take me to a club or something." she said with an evil grin.

"That's not a bad idea." Gibbs said.

"Really?" McGee asked.

"Yeah." Gibbs replied. "We could all go."

"Yes!" said Maebh, jumping up and down.

"So does this mean you're not mad at me anymore?" Gibbs asks Maebh.

"Not anymore, Dadaí." she said with a big smile.

"Well, come with me. You need to tell Abby and Ducky everything you remember so they can see if they can help you remember stuff. We'll go somewhere after we're done with work today."

"Cool." she said happily.


	8. Chapter 8

"Do you normally eat this much?" Gibbs asks Maebh. She had already eaten most of a pizza.

"Yes." said McGee and Maebh in unison.

"How do you two know each other?" Gibbs asks them.

"I lived next door when I was in a foster home before I moved in with my grandfather." says Maebh.

"How long did you live there?"

"About...a year?" she guesses, looking at McGee.

"Yeah I think that's about right." McGee says.

"And how come I didn't know about this?" Gibbs asks.

"You aren't her _legal_ Godfather, meaning the paperwork wasn't filled out." said Abby.

"But..." starts Gibbs.

"You were her Godfather in the sense that if Maebh hadn't lost her memory you would have been able to adopt her. Since-for some reason-there was no paper work, she went into foster care until they got around to sending her to her grandfathers." Abby explains.

"But I was in the area. I should have found her." Gibbs says.

"What's the earliest thing you remember?" Ducky asks Maebh.

"I woke up in a hospital near the foster family that took me in." she replied.

"Which means you were in a different state?" Gibbs asks.

"Different from where?" Maebh asks.

"From where your family lived."

"I don't remember where I lived. I don't remember how I got to the hospital. All I remember is waking up and eventually going home with that foster family. And who caused the fire anyways?"

"I don't know his name. All I know is his face. I tried figuring out who he was but I haven't had any luck at all in 5 years. Do you remember anything else at all?" asks Gibbs.

"No." says Maebh.

"Well, lets leave it at that for now. Maybe now that you're around someone who's known you before the fire will help you remember something." Gibbs says.

"Party time?" asks Maebh.

"After you get the proper clothes." Gibbs responds. "McGee, can you take her shopping?"

"Uhh...sure." McGee replies.

"Here's a debit card. If you overdraw on it, back to Mexico with you!" Gibbs says promisingly.

It didn't take Maebh long to pick out a proper outfit for her birthday night: tight, dark jeans with a black tank top, her dad's dog tags, and a wristband on each arm.

The club was large with lights going everywhere and loud techno and dance music playing, but it was easy for Maebh and McGee to find the group since they took up a decent section near the bar.

"Whoa!" said Tony and Abby when Maebh and McGee walked up to the group.

"It takes a special kind of beauty to make casual hot, Maebh." says Tony when he thinks Gibbs isn't listening. Maebh laughs and thanks him.

"What do you want to drink, Maebh?" asks McGee.

"Anything. I can handle anything you get me." she says.

"Really?" Tony asks.

"Yeah." she replies.

"I challenge you to a drinking game then." he says. Gibbs slaps the back of his head.

"When you are 21!" Tony says.

"So what do you young people do at places like this?" Gibbs asks.

"Dance and drink." says most of the group. Gibbs sighs.

"Don't worry, it's less embarrassing after a couple of drinks because I can't dance either." says Maebh. Gibbs gives her the 'Gibbs stare'. Maebh laughed and sat next to McGee at the bar.

"Here's your drink." he says, sliding over a drink.

"Thanks." she said, smiling.

"How'd you get in without having them put an 'X' on your hands?" Gibbs asked.

"I have my ways." she replies with a sneaky smile and a sparkle in her eyes. It wasn't long after then that an attractive young man, in his early twenties, walked up to Maebh and asked her to dance.

"Okay." she said, leaving her drink at the bar and followed him to the dance floor with a big smile on her face.

"She doesn't even have to try!" Tony says. "She gets mad props in the Tony book."

Eventually everyone was on the dance floor, Tony with Ziva and Abby with someone she asked since Gibbs refused to dance. McGee and Gibbs were the only ones left at the bar. They weren't alone at the bar for long, though-Maebh came back up to the after one song.

"Was he a bad dancer?" Gibbs asked her when she slipped in between their bar stools to stand between them.

"He was getting rather handsy." she said. At this Gibbs started to look around for that bastard.

"Calm down, Dadaí. I took care of him." Maebh said to Gibbs, after she realized what he was doing.

"How?" Gibbs asked her. He wanted to make sure his punishment was good enough.

"He won't be having children anytime soon." she said. This made Gibbs laugh.

"Uh...Boss?" said McGee.

"Yes?" he replied.

"Trent Kort is here." Gibbs immediately looked where McGee was looking. There he was, standing far away from them, but close enough for Gibbs to tell that Kort was looking directly at Maebh.


	9. Chapter 9

Maebh turned to where McGee and Gibbs were looking. As soon as she saw Trent Kort looking at her she froze. Suddenly everything came back to her. She saw him hanging around her neighborhood before the fire. She remembered that he freaked her out one time by following her when she went for a run with her best friend.

"Th-th-th-that's him!" she said.

"What?" Gibbs asked, not taking his eyes of Kort.

"I saw him being creepy around my neighborhood before the fire."

"You sure?"

"Positive."

"What do we do, boss?" McGee asks.

"We need to get Maebh out of here, now."

"Where did she go?" said McGee, looking around for her. After they both looked around frantically for a few seconds, they saw her walking over to Kort. McGee could tell by her body language she was going to kick his ass. As soon as Kort realized what she was planning to do, he made a run for it. Unfortunately for him he ran into Tony.

"Where you going?" Tony asked him.

"Out." he said bitterly.

"If you mean with us, then I guess you're right." said Gibbs. Every one from their group, excluding Abby, had Kort surrounded at this point.

"My, Maebh. You've gotten so pretty since the last time I saw you." Kort said, looking Maebh over very slowly. At this, Maebh high kicked him in the nose and stormed away towards the bathrooms extremely pissed off and slightly violated. McGee starts to follow her, but Gibbs grabs him by the front of his shirt.

"She'll be okay." Gibbs tells McGee. "We have to deal with this bastard."

* * *

When Maebh gets into the bathroom, she stands in front of a sink and looks at herself in the mirror. She's trying hard to not break down. The person puking in one of the stalls isn't helping. "Breathe." she thinks to herself. When the person in the stall becomes quiet after a while Maebh asks if she's okay.

"I'm fine." said a woman, not much too much older than Maebh, as she walked out of the stall. She was tall and thin, so she didn't look like she could handle much alcohol at all.

"You don't look so good." the woman said the Maebh.

"Ran into someone unexpected, that's all." she said, trying to sound casual.

"Ah. Ex-boyfriend?"

"Uh...sure." Maebh responded, not really paying attention to what she said, but the woman ranted on about something. Maebh's head was starting to throb. The woman soon left after her rant. Maebh went into the large handicapped stall in the back, locked the stall door, and sat on the floor leaning her back against the wall. She sat there and thought back as far as she could. She could remember Gibbs being around her and her parents a lot. Her family lived in the country and had a lot of property. She tried to remember the day of the fire. It was a party...a birthday party? It was her birthday party! Gibbs said earlier that he had left to go get a present...what was the present?

"Maebh?" she heard Abby say.

"Here." she said. She heard Abby's platform boots walk over to the stall door.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, I just have a headache."

"I have some aspirin in my purse."

"Okay." Maebh said as she stood up and walked out of the stall. She swallowed the aspirin Abby gave her dry and they walked out of the bathroom together. When they got out, the club seemed emptier than it should be.

"What happened?" Maebh asked Abby.

"Gibbs, Ziva, and McGee took Kort to the Navy Yard. Tony is waiting for us with a cab." she replied.

"How did getting him out of here?"

"Pretty easy after you knocked him unconscious." Abby replied with a grin.


	10. Chapter 10

When everyone was back to NCIS, Gibbs barked his orders at his team. He pulled Maebh away to the elevator when the team got busy.

"Are you okay?" Gibbs asked her.

"I'm trying to be." she replied, trying to keep her voice from cracking.

"Maebh, I'm not going to let him hurt you."

"_I_ won't let him hurt me Gibbs."

"Yet you're still afraid?"

"I just want it to be over. I have enough going on without him being here."

"Like what?"

"Existing."

There was silence between them for a while.

"I want to have been there for you." Gibbs finally told her.

"I wish things worked out that way too."

"At least you had your grandfather, though."

"I would've rather been homeless."

"Why?"

"I hated it. I didn't remember anything, I was happy with my foster family. I had McGee as my best friend. If I had stayed there long enough, this would have happened sooner."

"How much Shakespeare have you read?"

"Just stuff for school. What's that got to do with anything?"

"Just hold on a second. Have you read _Much Ado About Nothing_?"

"Yeah."

"Claudio and Hero are at their wedding right?"

"And Claudio accuses Hero of cheating on him, but she was really framed."

"Her cousin, Beatrice, wishes she was a man so she could get revenge for Hero. She knows wishing won't do anything, but the man that Beatrice loves helps them out."

"Yeah. What's that got to do with this?"

"Wishing hasn't really worked, but you have me now. I'll make sure this bastard gets what's coming to him."

This makes Maebh break down in tears. This is the first time she's felt truly loved since she left her foster family and McGee for Mexico. Gibbs and Maebh hug each other. For the first time in a long time for both of them, things feel okay.


	11. Chapter 11 Epilogue

_**Preface:** Life had finally gone right for Gibbs and Maebh. Trent Kort went to prison and is being constantly monitored by multiple guards. Gibbs made sure Kort would be spending the rest of his life there._

_Maebh is now 25. She went to college to be an interpreter in American Sign Language and Spanish, then for Criminal Justice. She'll be headed off to Navy boot camp soon to join NCIS. Maebh and McGee have been dating for three years._

_Gibbs had legally adopted Maebh, even though she was a legal adult. They have gotten really close and have a good father-daughter relationship-for two people who are so much alike. Gibbs finally got around to proposing to Abby, after they've been dating for four years. Today is the day of their wedding._

"That was an interesting ceremony." McGee says quietly to Maebh as they dance at the reception.

"Well with Abby as the bride, you expect it to be unique." she responds.

"Yeah you're right." McGee says with a laugh. He couldn't take his eyes off Maebh. She looked so gorgeous in the dress she was wearing. He was so madly in love with her.

"Can I steal my daughter for a dance?" Gibbs asks McGee.

"Of course." he replies with a smile and walks away to go get a drink. Maebh looks at Gibbs with a smile as they start dancing.

"You look awfully handsome." Maebh tells Gibbs.

"Thank you. You look very beautiful." he replies.

"Thank you, Dadaí."

"You know, you've really got that young mans heart." Gibbs says, referring to McGee.

"He has mine. He's really great to me."

"Well he has to be, or he'll have me to deal with." Gibbs says with a sparkle in his eyes and a sly grin. "Do you think you two would get married one day?"

"If he asks I'll say yes, if that's what you mean."

"Well, I think he's planning something."

"Me too." she says with a small laugh. It was then when Abby came up to them.

"Give my husband back now, Maebh." Abby says, being silly.

"Okay. You can keep him as long as you want." Maebh says with the same amount of silliness.

Maebh walks off the dance floor to find McGee. He's sitting at a table, so she sits next to him.

"I got you a drink." he says handing her a glass.

"Thanks." she says with a smile and takes a sip out of it. Not long after that, it was time to send off the bride and groom to their honeymoon. Maebh had a lot of fun blowing bubbles directly in Gibbs' face as they ran out to the limo that would be taking them to the airport. Then she used the rest on McGee.

Maebh was going to stay with McGee for a while, so Gibbs and Abby could enjoy being a married couple after they came back from their honeymoon.

"Do you think Abby and Gibbs will have any kids?" McGee asks Maebh as they laid on the couch one night, watching a movie that was on TV.

"Yeah. I can see them with a little girl. Gibbs needs a little girl to spoil."

"Would you want to have kids?" he asks her.

"Yeah. I would want a son, though."

"Whys that?"

"Because, boys are cool. They like rough housing being silly. Girls tend to be moodier and I just think I would enjoy a son more. But I would love my kids, no matter what. Why do you ask?"

"I was just wondering."

"Do you want kids?" she asked him.

"Yeah, maybe one or two."

Maebh turns on her other side on the couch so she could face McGee and gives him a kiss.

"Maebh?" he whispers.

"Yes?" she whispers back.

"I want to ask you something."

"What's that?"

He feels around for something in his pocket, and pulls out a ring.

"Will you marry me?" he asks.

"Yes." she says with a big smile on her face and gives McGee a really big kiss. McGee slips the ring on Maebh's left ring finger.

_Maebh and McGee got married after Maebh gets out of boot camp. Abby and Gibbs had a little girl, while Maebh is now pregnant with a boy. Both Gibbs and Maebh are finally happy to have the family that they've always wanted._

_**Fin.**_


End file.
